Strange (alternator related)
So I finally got around to replacing the faulty alternator in the Miata tonight. When I was pulling the old one off, I noticed something I haven't seen before. The hard plastic cap that covers the ring terminal wire connected to the alternator was partially melted, and the nut that holds the ring ternimal on tight looked like it had not been tightened all the way. This nut turned out to have arc-welded itself to the stud that protrudes from the alternator, and both the nut and the stud broke off when I tried to loosen the nut. Thankfully, I had a spare ring terminal cover off of the junkyard alternator sitting on my shelf.
Car feels a lot stronger now that it is making full spark. Doesn't idle funny or dim the headlights anymore, either. Wonder if that would have made the difference in Houston. :wink:
What might have caused this? Would a bad alternator have caused this terminal to arc, or (my suspicion) was the terminal not properly tightenend down when my engine was reinstalled? I'm just curious, as I have no beef with John Day and fixing the problem didn't cost me anything (Jon had a spare rebuilt alternator lying around from his old Miata), but this is the second problem I've fixed since the rebuild that involved wire terminals/connectors.
